30 September 2009, Vuda Point, Fiji
01/10/2009 0003UTC 17 40.828S 177 23.159E Day 842 Up at 0605, 24C, Partly Cloudy, Wind Calm.
[Above, this Associated Press photo shows the damage from yesterday's tsunami in Falehau village on Niuatoputapu Island, Tonga. Photos of our visit to the island in happier times are available here.]
[To read our book, Family Voyaging - Ak to nZ, and receive voyage planning assistance (VIP Service), go to the Family Voyaging website at www.familyvoyaging.com.]
The two Samoas suffered the most damage from the 30 September killer tsunami that swept the South Pacific. As many as a hundred are dead and numerous coastal towns were devastated. The largest cities in the tsunami's path -- Pago Pago, American Samoa, and Apia, Samoa -- are where we spent two months last year. So, looking at photos of the destruction there is a chilling and agonizing experience. But our chief worry is focused on the friends we made in the village of Falehau on Niuatoputapu Island, Tonga. It was in this tiny settlement, where we visited for over two weeks, that we befriended a wonderful Tongan family. They came aboard Wind Dancer for their son's 13th birthday party, they took Grant and Grace to school with them, I helped one of the men repair an outboard motor, we feasted with this family on numerous occasions, and they'd spent a whole day teaching Richelle how to cook Tongan style. They shared their island, family and home with us; there was never a moment that we did not feel wholly welcome. Sadly, from the above photo, it appears that our friends' home is gone. We do not yet know their fate.
At this point, we do know that there were deaths on the island, but the names have not been released. The Government of Tonga has declared a State of Emergency for Niuatoputapu, which is the closest Tongan island to Samoa. The total population of Niuatoputapu is approximately one-thousand people. Tonga Defence Services has confirmed that six people are dead there and four remain missing. Widespread devastation is also reported, including to the hospital, which the New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management reports has been destroyed. Damage has also been reported in the two other villages on Niuatoputapu.
The Australian vessel - the Voea Neiafu - departed Nuku'alofa, Tonga, last night for Niuatoputapu. The ship has aboard food, stores (tents, tarpaulins, etc.), medical supplies, a five-person civilian medical team, and Tonga Red Cross personnel.
We are also apprehensive about the welfare of fellow yachties in Tonga, Samoa and elsewhere in the South Pacific. At Niuatoputapu, some were anchored in the lagoon where we were moored last year. Our understanding is that most of the vessels got out through the pass into the open ocean before the tsunami arrived. At sea in deep water, tsunamis aren't much of a threat. There they are often not even perceptible. It's when these errant, earthquake-generated waves reach the shallows that they raise up to enormous heights and crash headlong into the shoreline and beyond. We heard that one boat was still anchored in the lagoon when the mountain of water arrived. The towering wave swept the yacht stem to stern and ripped out its windlass, but the vessel's anchor held and it survived the onslaught.
So far, we have not received any information about two of our dearest cruising friends, an American couple, who we know are still in Tonga. We believe the harbor where they are moored was not substantially damaged, but we wait with bated breath...
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29 September 2009, Vuda Point, Fiji
29-30/09/2009 0001UTC 17 40.828S 177 23.159E Days 840-41 Up at 0600, 24C, Partly Cloudy, Wind Calm.
[Above, map shows how close to us today's South Pacific earthquake was.]
[A new chapter has been added to Family Voyaging - Ak to nZ.
In 'The Goal,' come aboard Wind Dancer for an exhilarating and tempestuous passage, this one spanning the 1,300nm of open ocean from Tonga to New Zealand. A jolly sailor brings a fresh new dimension to the boat; the crew achieves its principal voyaging objective; and we discover that the land of Kiwis is upside down.
To read our book, and receive voyage planning assistance (VIP Service), go to the Family Voyaging website at www.familyvoyaging.com.]
A magnitude 8.0 to 8.3 earthquake rattled the South Pacific today, triggering tsunami warnings for twenty island nations, including Fiji, and prompting Samoans to flee coastal villages for higher ground.
The temblor was located at 15.558°S, 172.073°W, which is:
115nm ENE of Hihifo, Tonga
125nm S of Apia, Samoa
335nm NNE of Nuku'alofa, Tonga
650nm NNE of Suva, Fiji
1,670nm NNE of Auckland, New Zealand
Following the quake, a 1.5m tsunami was reported at Pago Pago, American Samoa, and Apia, Samoa. Homes in some villages on the coast were washed away. Several people were drowned or swept to sea.
The quake struck shortly at 1748UTC about 125nm southwest of Apia, the capital of the independent island of Samoa, at a depth of about 20nm. Its epicenter was very near the Tongan island of Niuatoputapu, where we stayed among the villagers for two weeks last season. We do not know their fate, though we heard on the VHF radio this morning that the small settlements there may have been wiped out. Niuatoputapu is a low-lying, atoll-like island and has poor communications with the outside world. It may be days or longer before we know for sure if our Tongan friends there survived. This island is where the kids went to school during our visit, and we became very close with some of the local families. So, we're hoping and praying that they're safe. We'd also spent considerable time in the Samoas, so we can easily visualize the areas that suffered death and damage.
For those of us living at sea-level in Fiji -- about 650nm from the earthquake epicenter -- we were under a tsunami warning all morning. The 'tidal' wave's arrival time here came and passed but we noticed nothing in the marina. It was an unnerving few hours, nonetheless. Here's what the official warning looked like:
TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 003
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 2022Z 29 SEP 2009
THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...
WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.
A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR
AMERICAN SAMOA / SAMOA / NIUE / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU /
COOK ISLANDS / TONGA / TUVALU / KIRIBATI / KERMADEC IS / FIJI /
HOWLAND-BAKER / JARVIS IS. / NEW ZEALAND / FR. POLYNESIA /
PALMYRA IS. / VANUATU / NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / SOLOMON IS. /
JOHNSTON IS. / NEW CALEDONIA / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA /
POHNPEI / WAKE IS.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
ORIGIN TIME - 1748Z 29 SEP 2009
COORDINATES - 15.3 SOUTH 171.0 WEST
DEPTH - 33 KM
LOCATION - SAMOA ISLANDS REGION
MAGNITUDE - 8.3
MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY
GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL PER
------------------- ----- ------ ----- --------------- -----
RAROTONGA CK 21.2S 159.8W 1951Z 0.47M / 1.5FT 08MIN
APIA UPOLU WS 13.8S 171.8W 1832Z 0.70M / 2.3FT 08MIN
PAGO PAGO AS 14.3S 170.7W 1812Z 1.57M / 5.1FT 04MIN
EVALUATION
SEA LEVEL READINGS INDICATE A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. IT MAY HAVE
BEEN DESTRUCTIVE ALONG COASTS NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE EPICENTER AND
COULD ALSO BE A THREAT TO MORE DISTANT COASTS. AUTHORITIES SHOULD
TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS
CENTER WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA TO DETERMINE THE
EXTENT AND SEVERITY OF THE THREAT.
FOR ALL AREAS - WHEN NO MAJOR WAVES ARE OBSERVED FOR TWO HOURS
AFTER THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OR DAMAGING WAVES HAVE NOT
OCCURRED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS THEN LOCAL AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME
THE THREAT IS PASSED. DANGER TO BOATS AND COASTAL STRUCTURES CAN
CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS DUE TO RAPID CURRENTS. AS LOCAL
CONDITIONS CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE
ALL CLEAR DETERMINATION MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.
ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS
WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL
ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE
LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN
SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.
LOCATION - FORECAST POINT - COORDINATES - ARRIVAL TIME
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
FIJI - SUVA - 18.1S 178.4E - 2003Z 29 SEP
The tsunami warning was cancelled for Fiji about 1030 ship's time. So, we dodged the bullet and are safe, though today's events were an awesome reminder of just how rapidly your day can change.
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28 September 2009, Vuda Point, Fiji
28/09/2009 0652UTC 17 40.828S 177 23.159E Day 839 Up at 0600, 24C, Partly Cloudy, Wind Calm.
[Above, winter break over, our students returned to their studies aboard today as spring semester began.]
[A new chapter has been added to Family Voyaging - Ak to nZ.
In 'The Goal,' come aboard Wind Dancer for an exhilarating and tempestuous passage, this one spanning the 1,300nm of open ocean from Tonga to New Zealand. A jolly sailor brings a fresh new dimension to the boat; the crew achieves its principal voyaging objective; and we discover that the land of Kiwis is upside down.
To read our book, and receive voyage planning assistance (VIP Service), go to the Family Voyaging website at www.familyvoyaging.com.]
"Crew Quarters"
1st Mate: The heat is on. Our few days of cool breeze have left and we are sweltering again. I did find a fan in town at some little Chinese store. It is bizarre, some sort of kiddie animal face, but it works. I have been doing a lot of small projects on the boat in the cooler part of the day and then jumping in the pool. I did manage to get a hair cut, a shag to keep me cooler. I made banana bread one day and gave a loaf to Mike and Liz s/v Argonaut who couldn't believe I baked in this heat. But it paid off as Liz made some great cinnamon rolls for us. The trick is to get up early. We have been doing lots of barbecuing to keep the heat out of the cabin. I have a tray of sweet and sour meatballs ready for tonight, yet baking and making rice may dissolve what is left of our melting bodies.
Many kids are gone and it was time to get ours back to school. We plan to take it slow and easy this week to recharge their brains and routine. 3rd Mate did some language arts and math today and is required to read everyday -- no matter what! 2nd Mate seemed to enjoy his new math book and is working on marine science via a great workbook about giant squid. Next week the kids will begin a research type project. They will work together and gather information from the Internet. Thanks to their Extended Learning teacher from Juneau, Barb Mitchell, they will have a chance to explore deeper into their new world. We feel very fortunate that Barb has offered to give them some great assignments and even look over their work. Because the kids want to go back to regular school in the fall (March) in NZ, we chose to not participate in another full year at Oak Meadow. If today is any indication, the kids are still intellectual sponges and will learn through any venue.
After four months here in Fiji we have already used up over half of our allotted time. This is when it gets hard as we are in a state of flux and really want to be settled. I reflected lately on how lucky we have been to have this journey together. Our kids were miracles to us as we tried many years to have them. Now we are thankful for that time waiting. We were able to do this adventure because they were younger and we were older. I have always felt that because they were miracle babies that we owed it to them to give them something that would be miraculous. I hope that in twenty years this will all be apparent to them in many ways.
2nd Mate: Wildlife seen yesterday and today: least tern, squaretail mullet, convict fish, crowned urchin, rock crab.
Yesterday, we hung out on the boat for awhile. S/v Coco Kai left for some more of the Fijian islands, but Coco watched a movie with us before she had to leave. Then, we went up to the pool with Bertie from s/v Cristal Voyage and swam around. Later, we all went back to the boat and played cards and watched a movie. After we were done, Bertie went back to his boat and we got ready for dinner. We finished the episode of the 'Jazz' series we started the other day for our family entertainment.
Today, I woke up around 0600. I played some on the Internet and read in the air-conditioned (fan) comfort of my room. We ate breakfast, got the table up, and started our schoolwork for the day. Yes, we've begun school once again. However, instead of using Oak Meadow curriculum, we're practicing our appropriate grade levels using workbooks we found in town. I'm studying Math with a math workbook, Science with Karunui's Tentacles (a book on squids) and How to be an Explorer of the World (a book on how to observe the world around you), and Social Studies and History with Tools of Navigation (a book on navigation throughout history). I worked on a little bit in each of these books for awhile, and then we went up to the pool with Bertie. We played some games and swam before drying off and going to our boats. Bertie just came over and we're now playing cards. We plan to watch 'Lady and the Tramp' tonight as our family movie.
Today's Fijian word: yadra = a greeting equal to 'good morning.'
3rd Mate: The weather today: partly cloudy, light wind, the high was 26C, the barometer is 1007 and falling, the moon is waxing towards full.
The other day I went to town with Coco and our moms. We went to the thrift store and found a really pretty skirt, a hot pink sequined belt, a blue hippy gauze shirt and another red gauze wraparound skirt/shawl. We all went to Chinese food at The Great Wall of China; it was yummy. We also bought some new DVDs -- 'Lady and the Tramp', 'The Lion King', 'Bounty' (because our old copy is scratched), 'Johnny English' and 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. Coco left to sail the islands the next day and I miss her. I have been going to the pool everyday to cool off. Bertie our friend from New Zealand has been playing lots of card games with us and watching movies.
Today I started school again. I have a daily drill book; I reviewed common, proper and plural nouns. I have a Math 4 book that has Metric problems and addition/subtraction opposites. Pacific English today covered tenses, phonics, spelling and reading comprehension about rain and I got to draw the water cycle. I have a Spark Reader 4 that I have to read a story from and answer many questions. It was fun to do school again but I'll miss being a cruising bum.
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